Political Relations between Cuba and Mexico Deteriorate

The political relationship between Mexico and Cuba has gone from bad to worse this year, following disputes over a human-rights vote at the UN and allegations that Cuban President Fidel Castro's government has interfered in Mexico's domestic affairs.

Tensions between the two countries have been growing gradually since President Vicente Fox took office in 2000. The first sign of trouble occurred when Fox took time from a state visit to Cuba in February 2002 to meet with opponents of the Castro government in Havana (See SourceMex, 2002-04-24).

This incident was followed by accusations that the Fox government, under pressure from the US government, limited Castro's presence at the UN development summit in Monterrey a few weeks later. In that incident, Castro released an audio tape of a conversation he had with Fox in which the Mexican president asked him to leave the summit early to avoid a conflict with the soon-to arrive US President George W. Bush (see SourceMex, 2002-04-24).

The controversy over the Monterrey situation came just after Mexico's decision in 2002 to support a UN resolution condemning Cuba's crackdown on dissidents.

The Mexico-Cuba tensions faded into the background for some months with the resignation of foreign relations secretary Jorge Castaneda, who had been widely blamed for playing a major role in what were perceived as the Fox's government's anti-Cuba policies (see SourceMex, 2003-01-15).

Human-rights vote at UN ignites animosities

Mexico's policies toward Cuba, however, changed little under Luis Ernesto Derbez, Castaneda's replacement as head of the Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE). Under Derbez's watch, Mexico again voted to condemn Cuba's human-rights record in a vote taken by the UN Human Rights Commission on April 15, 2004. Mexico and six other Latin American members of the UN Human Rights Commission--Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Peru--voted to condemn Cuba's human rights record, while Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay abstained.

A presidential spokesperson defended Mexico's vote, saying the Fox government's policy promotes "moderation" rather than "total condemnation" and is not anti-Cuban but rather pro-human rights.

The resolution to condemn Cuba in the UN was introduced by Honduras under pressure from the US, Cuban officials said. The Castro government, testing Honduras' commitment to human rights, later asked the Central American country to petition the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights to appoint a relator to monitor the condition of the US base in Guantanamo, where more than 600 prisoners from the Middle East, Afghanistan and other areas are being held (see NotiCen, 2004-05-06).

Before the vote, speculation was rampant that Mexico would abstain in exchange for a speedy return of fugitive businessman Carlos Ahumada, who had fled to the island nation after he was caught offering bribes to Mexico City legislative leader Rene Bejarano. All along, Mexican and Cuban officials insisted that the UN vote and the request to extradite Ahumada were totally unrelated. "There is no relationship between Mexico's vote at the UN and the extradition request for Mr. Ahumada," Derbez told reporters on April 14.

While Mexico would not reveal its position as late as the day before the UN vote, White House spokesperson Scott McClellan indirectly revealed that Mexico had already decided to condemn Cuba. In a press conference, McClellan said Presidents Fox and Bush had spoken by telephone and concurred on the need to approve the resolution condemning Fidel Castro's regime.

But the Fox administration's failure to dispute McClellan's comment was the strongest confirmation that it would vote against Cuba. Critics were even more concerned that the news came from the US, which they said was evidence that the Bush administration had strongly influenced Mexico's decision. …

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